Dandruff????

[Eva Horn]

Hi my Jack Rusell, has really bad dandruff, I don't know what to do!


I don't bathe him very often, one every month and a half or so, a very mild puppy shampoo( pretty sure it's oatmeal based, can't remember right now)
And he has very bad dandruff, I can brush him and then he shakes and all of a sudden he's all white!!!!

I was just wondering if anyone had any simple cures...

He gets fed very well, and I don't know what else could cause it??......

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!thanx

[TimberWolf]

My shepherd has very dry skin too. Sometimes it's just the food they are eating. What food is your dog eating? Mine uses Wellness fish and sweet potato and it's doing well for her skin and coat. I believe it's the fish oil that's helping with that. Some people say to try egg whites in their food but I've never tried that so ask around if that sounds interesting. As far as shampoo, I find oatmeal surprisingly drying. I used four paws sensative skin shampoo and I've used Relief which is an oatmeal based shampoo but did a decent job at nourishing the skin. You may want to try the shampoos first since that may be the easiest, but keep in mind you do want to find out what the underlying problem causing the dry skin is...food? allergy? environment?

Meanwhile, ask in the food forum/wholistic health forum to get some other advice on what could be causing the dry skin. A few flakes is normal but the way you tell me about his dandruff makes me a littel concerned.

[Sarah Moore]

Eva-

My black lab/dane mix used to have terrible dandruff (and it really showed up on his shiny black coat, yuck). As Anne said, the shampoo might be part of the problem, but there is likely other issues such as diet and environment. What I think the source of my dog's dandruff was the flea and tick medicine I was using at the time (Advantix), and a lack of EFAs (essential fatty acids). I stopped using all chemical flea treatments (I know use a neem oil spray, there is info about neem oil in the holisitic health forum) and I add a small amout of this product
http://www.arknaturals.com/products/index.cfm?fuseaction =DisplayProductPage&Product_ID=12
to his food about every other day. I also have tried adding a little Evening Promrose Oil about once a week. Long story short, his dandruff is almost completely gone. Dandruff can also be a sign of a food allergy, so that is something to consider as well.

Hope that helps!!:twocents: (my 2 cents :))